Universal Wrestling Federation – June 7, 1986: What’s Left Of It
Universal Wrestling Federation
Date: June 7, 1986
Location: Tulsa Convention Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Commentators: Jim Ross, Michael Hayes
So last week was a white hot angle with Eddie Gilbert and the Russians humiliating Cowboy Bill Watts by covering him with the Soviet flag. That’s not going to sit well with Watts, who has already come chasing after them with a baseball bat. The house show matches are coming soon enough, but we’ve got some work to do on the way there. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
The WWE Vault version of this show is missing almost 20 minutes so a match almost has to be missing. Or at least a music video. At least a lot of it will be entrances and bumpers due to music rights, because those things have to ruin a lot of classic footage.
We open with a recap of Dark Journey turning down Michael Hayes.
Commentary welcomes us to the show and Hayes claims last week was a misunderstanding.
Kamala vs. Mike Reed
One Man Gang and Skandor Akbar are here with Kamala. Before the match, Akbar says no team in the world can stand up to these two. I’m sure they could stand up to the monsters. Maybe not beat them but standing up can’t be that hard. Kamala jumps him before the bell and kicks him down, setting up a pair of splashes for the win. I didn’t hear an opening bell but we’ll say about 28 seconds.
We recap Bill Watts getting into it with Eddie Gilbert and the Russians, resulting in Watts being covered with the Soviet flag last week. JR is in his glory as he screams about what he is seeing.
Watts is at his house and talks about World War II and the Korean War and how everyone is sure that America is going under because we play by the rules. He’s not playing by the rules and is calling his friends to come help him. This was so AMERICA IS GREAT that it made my teeth sweat.
Here is Eddie Gilbert to introduce the Russians and mock Bill Watts.
Russians vs. Jeff Gaylord/Ken Massey/Perry Jackson
Ivan wrestles Jackson down to start and drops a leg before it’s off to Nikita. The quick tags continue as Massey comes in, with Nikita dropping him with the Sickle for the pin at 1:19.
Post match, Gilbert does the flag thing again.
Bill Watts talks to Dusty Rhodes and wants him to fight for America. Rhodes is ready to come to Houston and help fight, with Watts telling us not to come to the show if you don’t want to see mud, blood and beer. Watts: “WE HATE RUSSIA!” I’m not sure why Dusty was wearing a top hat but maybe it’s subtext.
Michael Hayes introduces a video on the Freebirds. Said video is set to Can’t Stop Rockin by ZZ Top so of course it’s missing from the Vault version. Oddly enough this seemed to be mostly if not all WCCW footage.
Eddie Gilbert and the Russians are ready for Houston.
Brett Wayne Sawyer vs. Jack Victory
Victory has the giant Lady Maxine with him. Sawyer takes him down to start and cuts off a boot to the ribs. Back up and Victory takes over by choking in the rope, with Maxine getting in a choke. Sawyer gets some boots up in the corner and walks into some dropkicks but avoids a third.
Maxine low bridges Sawyer to the floor and here is Dark Journey to glare at Maxine, which has the fans interested. Sawyer throws Victory over the top and tells the women to go at it, with the brawl kicking off. Victory pulls Maxine outside and we’ll call it a no contest (unless Sawyer was DQ’d for the toss over the top, but I can’t imagine it matters) at 5:00.
Rating: C. Obviously the match wasn’t the point here, as this was ALL about the women going nuts out there. That made for a good segment, and you could tell the fans were very interested. That’s not something you want to do very often, but dang it works when you have an angle the fans are into and you can feel the energy.
We look at the UWF Championship tournament, with Jim Duggan vacating the North American Title to retire it and then entering the tournament. This includes highlights of the entire tournament, with Terry Gordy beating Duggan in the finals, partially thanks to a pre-match brawl between Duggan and One Man Gang. Seeing the bloody Duggan fight for everything he had was great stuff as he knew how to make a comeback like few others. The recap eats up about ten minutes, none of which is shown on the Vault version.
TV Title: Buzz Sawyer vs. Terry Taylor
Sawyer, with Rick Steiner, is defending and Chavo Guerrero is here with Taylor. Hayes makes jokes about Mexican food as Taylor grabs a headlock and hits a crossbody for two. Another headlock doesn’t work so well as Sawyer is up with the forearms in the corner. Taylor is right back with another dropkick out to the floor but misses another crossbody, sending him outside as well.
Back in and a suplex drops Taylor but Sawyer misses a top rope splash. Steiner trips Taylor so Guerrero puts the foot on the rope and jumps Steiner as we’re rapidly running out of time. The credits start to roll and Taylor gets a small package for the pin and the title at 4:28.
Rating: B-. The pin taking place during the credits was quite the surprise as you wouldn’t expect to see a title change that late in the show. Taylor continues to feel like one of the bigger prospects around here, but the more I see of Sawyer, the more impressed I am. At the same time, it’s a shame that he was such a horrible person outside of the ring because it really brings the opinion of him down.
Overall Rating: C+. Here you have a show that is good enough on its own but brought WAY up due to the crowd. The fans were molten for everything going on and it made things that much better. It really is easy to see why this place was seen as a big deal and if not for the upcoming economic crash, the question of “what if” is so strong. Anyway, while not as big as last week’s show, this is still a breeze to watch and hopefully we get the Superdome or Astrodome show to wrap up the month in a few weeks.
Results
Kamala b. Mike Reed – Splash
Russians b. Jeff Gaylord/Ken Massey/Perry Jackson – Russian Sickle to Massey
Brett Wayne Sawyer vs. Jack Victory went to a no contest when Lady Maxine and Dark Journey brawled
Terry Taylor b. Buzz Sawyer – Small package
Remember to follow me on Twitter and Bluesky @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at: